Do You Struggle To Pay Your Rent? Shift To This Mindset.

I’ve just signed up for Reddit. Added my interests and this was the first topic to pop up on my timeline:

“I need to make $2200 quickly. Advice appreciated”

It took me back a few years to a time when I was living paycheck to paycheck. 

When I was reading some of the advice given to address this topic I noticed a gap between the problem faced, and the actual solution required to make a change. The solutions people can think of, often don’t address the actual issue faced. Sometimes they make you drift even further away from a possible solution. 

The reason most advice doesn’t work is that it’s often of a reactive nature. People face a problem and try to find a solution to fix that specific problem. “I need $2200 quickly so I can pay rent and don’t lose my house”. 

Maxing out your credit card or selling your stuff is not a solution. Getting into Forex or Crypto for the sake of making quick money neither. Seriously, why not go ahead and advise to sell a kidney so you can take those earnings to Las Vegas. 

It’s not about finding ways to make extra money (yet). The first step is finding a way to control your money flow. Your financial knowledge. And in order to make that happen, you’ll need to shift your mindset first.

Since I shifted my mindset and started addressing the underlying (core) issue instead of the short term financial struggles, my life became a lot easier. 

In order for this to become a reality, I had to make some hard choices tho. Hard because I got used to a certain lifestyle. And habits, when formed, are difficult to change. Difficult but not impossible. 

As the result of my shift in mindset, I’m living a healthier, wealthier and easier life. This is how I did it:

Learn to let go of your current lifestyle!

My answer on Reddit: Unpopular opinion: Maybe losing your house isn’t a bad thing per se. 

Let me start with the fact that this doesn’t mean that making an extra $2200 isn’t good. I love side-hustles, I applaud multiple sources of income and diversification. I love to brainstorm ways to make it happen, as long as it’s not a short-term solution you’re after. That will pretty much always end up badly.

Your real problem is that you suck at financial management. If you are losing your house over a $2200 payment then maybe that’s a blessing in disguise. Maybe this is your wake-up call and a shot to start over. 

I know the struggle, and I know that it’s easier said than done. But believe me, I’ve been there. Not as deep in as losing my house, but as deep in as having exactly $0 to spend 3 weeks after every new paycheck. Having to sell stuff the 4th week in order to buy some food and cigarettes (you see where priorities lie).

For me this lifestyle became exhausting. I was working my ass off just to come home to a place that I could barely afford. And all of this just to have a nice apartment downtown, because that’s what people expect you to have. A decent life with a good job, a nice house and a nice car.

It’s the ongoing struggle of having to live up to other peoples expectations. And it’s unknowingly. We can’t help it. Everyone would agree that happiness is the most important feature to strive for. Yet they ask you every chance they get how your study is progressing, and if there is any job security in your field or why you’re not married yet. 

You probably recognise this unconscious creation of social expectations. We can’t help it. It’s some form of mass indoctrination. And the only thing you can do about it is ignore it. And this is exactly the hard part.

Decide that you’re going to stop caring as of today!

One day, preferably today, you’ll have to decide that it’s okay to be some sort of an outcast. You have to decide that it doesn’t matter if you lose your current house if you can’t afford it. You have to accept that shit got out of control and you need to step back and fix it before it gets really messy. You have to accept the fact that you can’t afford your current lifestyle, and that sacrifices need to be made in order to survive. And most importantly, you have to accept that your neighbours might think you failed in life. Accept it, and let it loose. Because it doesn’t matter what your neighbours think. It’s your life! 

Accepting that you can’t maintain your current lifestyle doesn’t mean that you’ll lose it forever. It means that you are downgrading your current life in order to restart and build a brighter future for yourself. And it’s not even ‘downgrading’ if you‘re mentally improving because of it. I can guarantee you that. A smaller home without the worry about quick ways to make $2200 makes a very peaceful home. That’s a big mental upgrade if you ask me. 

Invest your time and money wisely

Take it up a notch by downgrading your luxury lifestyle even more, and you’ll find yourself with some extra cash to spend every month. 

The way you spend this ‘extra cash’ is going to determine what your future is going to look like. 

It’s only at this point that you’ve taken back control of your situation! 

Now you can start thinking about additional ways to make $2200. It all starts with you deciding that you need to change and taking the responsibility to actually make it happen. 

It’s all up to you. You can’t blame the government, or your parents, or your friends, not even your babies daddy who bailed on you. It’s not what you think those people ‘should’ do for you. It’s what they actually do. And it’s up to you to accept this hard reality and take matters back into your own hands. 

Wrapping it up

You can ignite your future ‘worry free’ life today. You just have to decide that the sacrifice that needs to be made, has to be made. And every time this new reality feels like a loss, remember that it’s only temporarily. You are taking back control over your life. With a clear mind and no financial struggles, you can start to work on your future. You now got time and money to invest, make sure you invest it wisely! 

If you are ready for the next step and need a short guide to help you decide where to invest your newfound time and money check out my article on the topic right here: How aspiring entrepreneurs should invest.